Outbidding Ebay

Several years ago, my mother gave me her Snowflake Garland Pyrex mixing bowls and casserole dishes (above). As a kid, these were the bowls I made batches and batches of cookies, and many meals were served from the casserole dishes. And then there is her milk glass sugar shaker with its heavy-duty drip cut spout and fun daisy flowers that made its way to my kitchen (and I just recently discovered matches my new fiestaware!). They are all very dear to this foodie. So recently I started trolling ebay and thrift stores for their missing pieces, eager to have my set complete.

Last night while concocting various off-the-beaten-path search terms for these elusive pieces, I stumbled across a milk glass mixing bowl by Fire King that reminded me of another piece of kitchen inheritance from my late Grandma Bonnie Nelson.
For several years, this unassuming utilitarian powder-blue bowl has claimed its storage real estate on a higher shelf and was reserved only for serving. Today I relocated it to nest between its milk glass Pyrex relatives. (Side note: I learned early not to take ANY cherished pieces to potlucks after my inability to remember to take said dish home resulted in flat-out panic. Happy ending, I got it back.)

Despite the electronic powers of Ebay and Etsy loudly proclaiming the worth of these pieces higher than I would have ever thought, I have decided there is more worth in using my family vintage to create family memories of my own, rather than keeping them in pristine condition for pristine condition’s sake. I must admit, I do treat them a little softer than my other kitchen swag, because, I am a self-proclaimed butter-fingers!  I just can’t help but smile a bit in the middle of measuring my sourdough starter, making sweet dough for kuga, or whipping up pancakes in those sweet bowls. These pieces, after all, were used by hands I still love to hold (my mom), and used to hold in days past (my grandma).

They are the source of my new hashtag, #kitchenhappy.

Hey, Ebay: you have been outbid.